Nectar soda: The Times-Picayune covers 175 years of New Orleans history

If you are of a certain age and grew up in the Crescent City, nectar sodas were de rigueur on a hot summer afternoon, a date night or after Mass on Sunday morning. The ritual went like this: You’d slip onto a stool at your friendly neighborhood soda counter — think K&B Drug Store, Schweickhardt Drugs or Walgreen’s on Canal Street. Then, the skilled soda jerk sprang into action.

View full sizeIn 1939, nectar was featured at the soda fountain in the K&B Drugstore on St. Charles and Napoleon avenues in New Orleans.

175 years of history

The sweet, shockingly pink syrup was pumped into a tall soda glass, then a gurgling stream of carbonated water was added. The mixture was stirred with a long-handled spoon; and the process repeated until it was just right. Finally, a scoop of vanilla ice cream was added, pushing the thick, frothy foam to the point of almost overflowing. Some topped it with whipped cream and a cherry.

Nectar, the beverage of the gods with its vanilla, hint of almond flavor and bright pink color, was served at lots of soda counters in New Orleans, but rarely outside the area.

Susan Dunham, CEO of the Nectar Soda Co. in Mandeville, has said that her historical research revealed that pharmacist I.L. Lyons, a native of South Carolina who moved to New Orleans after the Civil War, created nectar syrup and sold it to local soda fountains, including K&B, for which it was a signature flavor.

After the 1950s, the soda fountain began falling out of favor. At K&B, fountains started to be phased out in the 1970s, with the last at Oakwood Mall closing in 1981. And then the nectar soda lived on mainly in local memories.

In the 1990s, Dunham tracked down Lyons’ ancestors — the pharmacist had long ago sold his company to a larger pharmacy that stopped making the flavoring — and launched a retail version of nectar syrup. And in the 2000s, several ice cream parlors revived the popular drink.

Today, however, it is most easily found at a favorite snowball stand, where a bright pink nectar snowball can be topped with condensed milk or stuffed with vanilla ice cream.